


Armed With My Guitar

by Andromytta



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, SPNBurCon Creative Quest, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 06:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21049781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andromytta/pseuds/Andromytta
Summary: What if Claire Novak turned to music instead of hunting when her life fell apart?





	Armed With My Guitar

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Jason Manns' song "Journey" as told from Claire's perspective.
> 
> Lyrics used with permission. (Thanks, Jason!)

Her dad was the first to leave. Possessed by an angel, he left for the sake of the greater good. Then, her mom left, in search of her soul mate. When her grandmother died, Claire Novak was left all alone.

The group home was basically Hell, with dormitories full of lost souls. The only bright spot was her guitar lessons. Robin was a ray of sunshine and Claire had a gift for song.

Then, Claire turned eighteen. It was time to leave. With no one and nowhere to go, she packed up her guitar and her duffle of meager possessions and just headed west; to Los Angeles. Claire was going to make a living with her gift.

_This can be a lonely town._

_By_ _myself with a million people around._

_Observing, preserving, serving my own mind,_

_And I’m curious at the things I’ll find._

Los Angeles was a huge city. It was large and scary for a girl with a GED and six bucks to her name. Claire spent her first two weeks playing her guitar on a street corner and scrounging for a safe place to sleep. It was then that she saw him. Like her father coming back from the dead, except it wasn’t him. He was simply standing on the other side of the street. Blue eyes locked on blue eyes, and Claire barreled across the street, heedless of traffic, her guitar bouncing against her hip where she had it slung over her shoulder.

“You! This is all your fault!” She shouted at the angel. “You promised my dad that you’d take care of us! But now he’s gone, Mom’s gone, and I’m….here.” Her voice dropped in strength and volume at the last word.

Castiel tilted his head and squinted down at Claire. “So you are all alone?”

_“I’m alone, but I’m not lonely. I’m with the only person than knows me.”_ Claire declared, crossing her arms over her chest and nodding.

“But isn’t it dangerous, for a young girl to be all alone like this?”

“I’m fine. I don’t need anything from anyone.” She said. _“I’m armed with my guitar, and I’m armed with emotional scars, and my journey is underway.”_

He sighed and looked down at her. “But, I can help. Let me help you.”

“You’ve already done enough.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed back to her own street corner.

It was only a few days later when April found her. April ran a shelter for homeless youths, and she took Claire in with almost no questions asked. Claire also didn’t bother to ask if Castiel had put her up to it, she already knew.

Despite April’s best intentions, the shelter was even worse than the group home had been. It was barely a step up from the streets, and Claire still had to fight for everything she had; including food and a place to sleep.

_I pulled into town yesterday,_

_But I think it’s time to go._

_I can’t tell you where,_

_‘Cause I don’t know…._

Claire would leave the shelter every day, finding new places to play her music. She was always coming up with new things to play. She started humming and strumming and would tell anyone who would stop and listen…

_I’m armed with my guitar,_

_And I’m armed with emotional scars,_

_And my journey’s underway._

But then, every night it was the same thing. Clamber to the cafeteria for food, and hope there was something left, fight for the least smelly bedroll, and hope her personal property survived the night. Nobody seemed to care about anyone else in that place. Claire was starting to lose hope.

When she befriended a young man named Kevin, who had also lost his parents in the most horrific way possible. There were victims of the supernatural everywhere. She realized that everyone had their own pain.

_’Times I feel like I’m the only one who cares._

_But we’ve all got trouble and we’ve all got pain._

_We need to realize that we are all the same._

_And we’re armed with our guitars,_

_And we’re armed with emotional scars,_

_And our journeys are underway._

It was then that Claire realized she could use her gifts, and her struggles, to help others. She convinced April that the young people in the shelter just needed an outlet for their pain. Together, they organized guitar lessons, art lessons, and other activities that would help the others express themselves.

With renewed vigor and positive energy, Claire helped April turn the shelter into a real haven for displaced youths. They changed the name from the generic “66th Street Shelter” to “Haven: Home for Wayward Youth.”

It wasn’t long after that before Claire was offered a gig as the house singer at a small pub near the shelter. Eventually, someone who was someone heard her music and she sold a song to a tiny network television show, and her life was never the same again.

_I’m armed with my guitar._

_And I’m armed with emotional scars._

_And my journey is underway……._


End file.
